Thursday, 28 January 2016

by Corben Kushneryk (BFA (Acting) – University of Alberta Class of 2016)

The 2016 Next Generation Showcase marked the University of Alberta’s second anniversary participating in the event. After nearly three years of fundraising and careful scheduling negotiations with our faculty, we were able to organize a tour that would allow us to introduce ourselves to the greater theatre community in Ontario. Some of us were experiencing Toronto for the first time, while others were excited to be returning to their home city for this exciting opportunity.

As emerging artists, we are ready and hungry to learn about the reality of our business and how it sits in the greater cultural and economic landscape. We are constantly looking to equip ourselves with the tools to help us succeed in a career that can often be difficult to negotiate. We want to know what forces we will encounter on the job. Since we come from different schools offering different pre-professional resources, it is heartening to see that Theatre Ontario has so many professional development opportunities.

After the audition portion, a panel unfolded in the Aki Studio Theatre, slyly entitled “Inside the Actor’s Career.” Moderated by Cole Alvis, the panelists (Ted Dykstra, Kevin Hanchard, Grace Lynn Kung, and Rebecca Perry) offered a number of different voices from the existing professional community. This panel was a rich sampling of gender identity, age, race, business experience, genre expertise and artistic focus, yet common themes popped up throughout the evening.

At the risk of oversimplifying their wisdom, I would bundle the panel’s collective opinions into three basic ideas:

1) Keep your blinders on and stay in your lane

As an emerging artist, it is easy to be distracted by peers gaining career momentum before you. It is possible to think that you should be playing certain roles; that you should have achieved a certain level of success at a specific time; and that you should be doing a number of things better than you do. These ‘shoulds’ can creep into your mind and can prescribe a false sense of what success really means to you. Staying open and focused will keep you moving toward a path that will actually fulfill you. Following your own passions and joy in the work will lead you to surprising places.

2) Nourish yourself as an artist

Taking classes, travelling, and learning more about what makes you tick can only expand your horizons. As you grow, it is important to know that your non-negotiables (i.e. the ideas that help you maintain your artistic integrity) will continue to change, evolve and deepen.

3) Be a (#@&%)ing delight

In the world of theatre, generosity and respect will get you farther than any trick or talent. If you’re aiming for longevity in the world of acting, be kind.

The energy of our student colleagues in Toronto and the warmth of the industry professionals made for a very welcoming atmosphere. In some ways, the mythical divide between Eastern and Western artistic sensibilities were demystified for us. Theatre is theatre, no matter where you choose to make it.

The relationship between the University of Alberta and Theatre Ontario is still establishing its roots, and we hope that this exchange between provinces can continue to grow.

Upcoming on The Bulletin Board

Sudbury Theatre Centre's workshops Intro to Commedia and Intro to Lighting are on January 31 - UPDATED: The January 31 workshop is now on Ensemble Acting

The deadline to apply for the Harvey Residency at the Rosebud School of the Arts in Alberta is January 31

The deadline for Ontario Arts Council grants for Theatre Projects and Arts Service Organizations is February 2

New on The Bulletin Board

Alumnae Theatre in Toronto invites applications for directors for the 2016/2017 season. The deadline is February 11.

The National Arts Centre, English Theatre in Ottawa has launched a program for students who self-identify as a member of an under-represented community and are auditioning for a post-secondary program: online audition coaching from a member of the ensemble. The application deadline is February 12.

Nightwood Theatre is hosting a masterclass “I Wanna Produce a Show! How to Bring Your Idea to Life and Break Even” with Kelly Straughan on February 20 and 21 in Toronto.

(December 24, 2015) Looking back over my 15 weeks of training with Roseneath Theatre, I now realize my potential for working in Theatre Administration. Every week was a busy and productive schedule with lots of work in each department. The second half of my training was actually busier than the first half because all the spring productions are coming up and it was time to set up the tour schedules, the Actors and Stage Managers contracts, and lots of other administrative duties needed to prepare for an Equity tour.

I started my second half of training with the Education and Marketing Manager, Gretel Meyer Odell, who manages both Social Media and Marketing Department. I learned how to utilize and maintain social media for a company and to prioritize what should be posted in a timely manner. Social media is an important tool for marketing in the company so it is great to learn about how to use the different websites in different ways. The most interesting program I learned to use was a multi social media control website called Hootsuite where I posted articles from blogs that are relevant to educational subjects, new events from Roseneath, local shout outs to community organizations, etc.

I also assisted Gretel in marketing area by entering the school bookings into the Sumac database program. I created contracts, printed, sorted and filled them in order by date and sent the contracts with the technical requirements to the educators and booking contacts at the schools. I also designed an online Google form of the venue information sheet for educators to fill in so that everyone is aware of unique information for each school/venue so any potential issues may be addressed before artists arrive on the actual performance day.

Roseneath Theatre at the York Region District
School Board's QUEST conference.

I had another chance to attend a conference run by the York Region District School Board called “QUEST.” I prepared marketing materials before the conference, and on the day I helped set up and organize the booth. It was another great day of meeting educators and engaging in face to face conversations about the company’s new season.

Once Gretel confirms show bookings, the information is passed on to the Tour Manager (my mentor) Niki Poirier. With her I created all Equity contracts for the artists as well as the contract addendums in accordance with the Independent Theatre Agreement (ITA). I calculated the fees for the artists including their weekly payment, per diems, and over time fees. I also assisted with the detailed daily schedules for each week that meet the hour requirements set by the Canadian Actors Equity Association. I also started preparing the tour binders by making maps that give directions between locations throughout the whole tour.

Also with my mentor Niki, Roseneath’s Tour Manager, I researched hotel options for where artists could stay overnight on the tour. I had to make sure that each hotel’s amenities meet company’s requirements such as the above-ground parking lot, free Wi-Fi, laundry, etc. After completing the research, the best three hotels are selected per location, and this is what is presented to artists in order to make their selection. Once they chose their hotel, I would contact the hotel to make the bookings and discussed any specifics with the receptionist to ensure the best condition for the artists’ stay.

I assisted two big events at Roseneath in November. One was the Roseneath Fundraising reading event at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre and the other one was the showcase event for the Canadian Arts Presenting Association conference in Ottawa. The play that was presented for both events is called Outside, which is about a gay high school student telling his story of personal struggles with his identity, what he had been going through in his school life, and how his friends had started a Gay-Straight Alliance club in his high school. I worked on contracts for the artists for both events and booked a hotel for the showcase event in Ottawa. I also attended the reading event at Buddies and assisted the director, actors and stage manager in general to ensure everything ran smoothly.

There were two large grants due in December, and all of the company’s staff worked on these grant applications. I assisted with the organizing, as well as double checking the order of papers and detailed itinerary plans, etc. in reference to the checklists provided for the grants.

As it is close to the first tour dates in January, I checked the company’s production “to do” list and sorted out set, props and costumes that needed to be fixed and passed these to the technicians doing the work. Roseneath hired a new Production Manager, Courtney Pyke, so I helped get her started by teaching her how to use Sumac data program and the process of the rehearsal hall and equipment rental.

Each week of training in different department and learning the administrative work in theatre was quite interesting. I switched from Production Design to Administration and feel that theatre administration is also part of the art. It is not just the actual drawing or painting that is part of putting the design together for the show, but doing all the paper work and support all departments is key to putting everything together to produce a great piece of art. I have reached my goals and achieved more than I expected, and I am very satisfied with the outcome.

I have learned a lot at Roseneath and I am inspired by the positiveness and passionate work from Niki, as well as all my interactions with the other staff throughout this professional training. Niki and I became closer than before in friendship and as great work partner. She had excellent patience with me when I was going through a work process that I wasn’t use to, and showed me step by step what I needed to know. She truly has been a great mentor to me.

I am sincerely grateful that this training could happen with the support of the Theatre Ontario’s grant, and Roseneath Theatre who were willing to take me on and give me such a valuable opportunity to learn and work with them through the first half of their season. I feel I have more than achieved my goals and have solid skills that I didn’t have before I started. I am fully confident moving forward as Theatre Administration and am very thankful to Niki, Roseneath and the PTTP at Theatre Ontario.

Camila Diaz-Varela is training in digital production management, online community engagement, and digital curation with Sarah Garton Stanley at SpiderWebShow

(January 8, 2016) So I’m halfway through my training with SpiderWebShow and we’re in the thick of producing Volume 6. We’ve launched three new projects this Volume - #cdnelder project, #cdnopening, and RenderRabbits - published five editions of #cdncult magazine, and started implementing a social media strategy (which takes so way more work than I initially thought y’all.) I’m proud of the work that’s happening so far, for the team to be juggling so many projects at once, and to be a part of the space that SpiderWebShow takes up on the internet. It’s hard to wrap my head around the morphing, constantly updating nature of the site, because new content is being added all the time, in different time zones, but when I sit for a second to look at all the things that we’re doing, it makes me think that that kind of reflects the nature of the internet itself. Change and instability is the name of the game when you’re working with the internet as medium, and it’s to be embraced.

It’s a lot of learning on my feet. Writing down the processes of doing things (like posting different kinds of content to the site or how I set up meetings) has really helped me focus on my tasks and identify how they’re useful to the team and the creation process. One of my duties is to create a document of processes that I do by the end of the training. I’m attempting to articulate what I do and how I do it, so that if someone else on the team wants to do something I’ve done, they can get a organized, personal low-down from someone who’s already been there. Like I mentioned in my last blog, using the internet as a creative medium can be overwhelming because of the prerequisite technical knowledge required, so I like to think I’m making a little guide book to the SpiderWeb as I know it. So far the document’s called “SWS Cam Holy Book” and I think it’ll be something I’ll refer to after the mentorship with future projects (it’s got lots of helpful Wordpress tips.)

I started this mentorship working from home, but now I work from the STAF office alongside the STAF team. It’s really refreshing to go into a space dedicated to private study/working, and it’s motivating to see other folks going about their arts-related business around me. I took a webinar on accessible website design in their small conference room, and they’re great with letting me use the space as I need to, like staying late or huddling into a corner to record videos. As for my mentors, I’ve been helping Michael Wheeler publish the last couple editions of #cdncult from the office, and have been emailing Sarah back and forth consistently on different projects. Communication has been really open and nurturing with both of them, and they’re always available when I have a question. So shout out to you two wonderful mentors!

A weekly cross-country collaborators meeting at SpiderWebShow.

In the second half of the mentorship, I’ll be continuing to moderate the social media accounts, facilitate the SWS projects, and attending the upcoming half-day SWS retreat. It’s going to be good to sit down with the Makers over videochat and in person to hash out the upcoming Volume and reflect on this current one. There’s so many brilliant thinkers in the group, and in our weekly meetings there’s always so much more to discuss and collectively ruminate on than what time allows. I’m also going to be assisting at a Performance Wiki Edit-a-thon event that the Indigenous Performing Arts Alliance is hosting later this month. That’s really exciting to me because the aim is to populate the Indigenous body of work on the Performance Wiki, and locate more Indigenous artists on the Wiki map. Cole, the Executive Director of IPAA, shared a sweet digital map with me the other day called native-land.ca, to use as a resource for making a land acknowledgement before performances, and these online tools can be useful in so many more ways than we can imagine when we’re creating them. I love being part of a process that creates useful, relevant tools like that.

I’m really looking forward to continuing to work with the SWS team in the upcoming months. Till then!

Lisa Karen Cox is training in directing with Ravi Jain

In a few short weeks I will begin my journey in the art of directing with Ravi Jain. How do I feel about this? In short, excited and terrified. Founded in 2007, Ravi Jain`s Why Not Theatre is a Toronto based theatre company with an international scope. Why Not Theatre has established a reputation as a company synonymous with inventive, experimental, cross-cultural collaborations resulting in shows featuring new Canadian writing, company-devised and site-specific shows alongside revitalized interpretations of classics. In recent years, the company has also become known for its presentation of international productions and workshops from diverse cultures and artistic practices, along with support for the development of local emerging artists and companies. Essential to their creative processes are the collisions that arise from our different cultures, languages and experiences provoking us to seek new styles, stories and forms. Why Not Theatre is international in the truest sense of the word: it is created between nations and transcends the borders of race, celebrating all cultures, languages and forms.

Ravi Jain, Why Not Theatre and its work reflect the values that I would like to see in my work of the future. (My work examines intersectionality of communities. This includes but is not limited to race, culture, history and language.) It is for this reason, that I will spend time with Ravi Jain, participating in the unique business of new play development, directing, dramaturgy, and casting. These are all areas in which I have experience as a performer and limited experiences as a director. Partaking in these experiences will allow me to expand my understanding of artistic processes and skills needed for directing; allowing me to become better.

Photo by Dahlia Katz of Khadijah Robert-Abdullah,
Lisa Karen Cox, and her babe-in-arms in rehearsal forWe Are Proud to Present... at the Theatre Centre.

Ravi Jain is the ideal mentor. Beyond being a person of colour, he has a history incredible ethos. A Dora award-winning director, Ravi has an incredible reputation for creating a room with a lot of trust among the creative team and actors. He has a mysterious capacity to have authority in collaborative situations. In October, I worked with Ravi as the Assistant Director on We Are Proud to Present a Presentation About the Herero of Namibia, Formerly Known as Southwest Africa, From the German Sudwestafrika, Between the Years 1884-1915 at The Theatre Centre. It was an incredible experience to watch a seasoned director work with a racially diverse group of actors on a contemporary play for Toronto theatre audiences. Witnessing Ravi unique ability to move the creative team of designers and actors forward cohesively and collaboratively was eye-opening.

Ravi has a great desire to listen to the room and to respond intuitively. It is a skill that I hope to hone myself as I continue to work with him over the next six months. Further to that, as was the case with We Are Proud to Present..., I am sure that during the rehearsal process we will collectively find how I can best support the work. My spine tingles in anticipation and my ears are wide open.

The next application deadline for the Professional Theatre Training Program is March 1, 2016.

The Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts is hosting Indie X on February 28. Indie X is targeted to the professional performing arts Indie community and is a vital networking and learning conference not to be missed! Speakers and panelists include: Sky Gilbert, Philip Akin, Nina Lee Aquino, Ravi Jain, Byron Laviolette, Kelly Straughan, Jivesh Parasam and more.

In Case You Missed It

Stories from the Professional Theatre Training Program: Viktor Lukawski (Milton) is training in directing with Andrea Donaldson and Joel Greenberg at Tarragon Theatre in Toronto, Sehar Bhojani (Hamilton) is training in directing with Robert Ross Parker at Hope and Hell Theatre in Toronto, and Michela Sisti (Kleinburg) is training in directing with Ross Manson at Volcano Theatre in Toronto.

Thursday, 21 January 2016

Does your organization want to undertake a unique youth training project, led by professional theatre artists? We are now inviting applications for the March 15, 2016 deadline for our Youth Theatre Training Program (YTTP).

YTTP offers financial support to programs anywhere in Ontario, led by professional theatre artists, which deliver accessible training to young people (age 14 to 21) in theatrical skills such as:

Technical production and design

Theatre administration and producing

Performance skills and play creation

The program is funded by the Ontario Arts Council, an agency of the Government of Ontario.

Tuesday, 19 January 2016

Our Professional Theatre Training Program (PTTP) offers financial support for unique and flexible training with a chosen mentor in any theatrical discipline (except performance.)

These are three of the current participants' experiences - all are training in directing.

Viktor Lukawski of Milton is training in directing with Andrea Donaldson and Joel Greenberg at Tarragon Theatre in Toronto

(December 6, 2015) For the next few months, I will be doing my PTTP training at the Tarragon Theatre, as an assistant director of two productions in their 2015/2016 season.

The first production is Anna Chatterton’s Within the Glass, directed by Andrea Donaldson.

My recent work as an actor and director has been in ‘devised theatre’—meaning, the work is made from scratch, usually in the rehearsal space. Depending on the project, one might start off with some written source material, or even a book that one wants to adapt, but usually, the script is developed in the room, on our feet. There is a misconception that ‘devised theatre’ does not work with text, but it’s exactly the opposite: we are working with text all the time, developing it through the action in the room, letting the scene create the impulse to speak. After rehearsals, we look back on what was invented in the room, and we attempt to arrange it into a script that we edit as we go along. Of course, there are many variables to devised theatre and no two processes are alike, but like anything else, it’s incredibly hard work, and when you devise collectively, you are all adding to the writing.

This is very different from a production like Within the Glass. In this process, the playwright develops a script, which is then passed onto a director and actors who bring that script to life. Sometimes, as is the case for Within the Glass, the director and actors are a part of the script development from its early stages, going through various phases of development and public readings together. With a script in hand, the director and actors already have the end result of ‘the speech,’ but they must work to develop the action and physical impulses that lead one to say these words and make them ring ‘true.’ This is hard work in its own way, and a process that I’ve been very interested in for a very long time.

I am looking forward to working with Andrea Donaldson on this project. During my training, I hope to develop my skills as a director, to be able to clarify my vision, and to be able to better portray my ideas to the artists around me, from the tech crew (such as, lighting and set designers) to the actors. A director portrays ideas to different people throughout a rehearsal process, but must always adjust the information—what is important to discuss with a lighting designer is not always the same as with an actor. I want to be able to find efficiency and clarity, and that can only be done through training and experience. I spent the better part of my life in school training as an actor and have developed specific skills and exercises that allow me to work efficiently in that position. Now, as I transition into directing projects of my own, it is important that I develop the required set of skills for this position.

Currently, I am interested in how Andrea prepares for a project—what kind of prep work is needed for her to feel secure and ready for the first day of rehearsals? How does she formulate her vision? How does she adjust her vision as she goes along? How much is improvised in the room and how much is firmly set beforehand?

My meetings with Andrea have already started to answer some of these questions, and once the first day of rehearsals rolls around, we will begin a new phase of the process. I am also interested in having Anna Chatterton in the room, and how the process between director and playwright continues in the rehearsal room.

In terms of what I can contribute to the process: my experience in devised theatre will allow me to aid in key moments of structuring on stage: from working with the actors as they begin to find the impulse in the text, to responding to the work as an outside eye (taking notes on what I see to share with Andrea). My training with the physical body and movement on stage will allow me to propose ideas on the rhythm, moments of tension, and the physicality that can make the text live and move the story forward.

Already in the preparation, Andrea has taught me an incredible lesson: “As an assistant director, you must approach the work as if you were directing it.” It seems like an obvious idea, but it is easy to think of oneself as someone on the side, as ‘an assistant,’ always in reaction to someone else. But, in fact, one has to be just as prepared, just as immersed, and just as decisive as the director in the process. This can be a lesson for all positions in a theatrical production — we cannot be complacent, on the side, expecting someone else to push forward; we have to take charge and we must immerse ourselves completely.

Sehar Bhojani of Hamilton is training in directing with Robert Ross Parker at Hope and Hell Theatre in Toronto

(December 21, 2015) I am so grateful to receive the generous support from Theatre Ontario’s Professional Theatre Training Program to train in directing with Robert Ross Parker.

Disgraced by Ayad Akhtar is a controversial play that dives into the theme of Islam in a Western Society -- a theme that I myself am exploring through my own writing. As a Muslim artist, I feel the dialogue sparked by this play to be necessary and feel fortunate to be a part of its Toronto debut. A large part of why I have been brought on board is to act as a sort of consultant during the rehearsal process. As the play deals with many Islamic themes, I have been charged with the duty of authenticity in the room. I am only now realizing how daunting a duty like this truly is. I am in no way an authority on Islam. I, to this day, continue to struggle with aspects of my faith. When I think of beginning rehearsals, my excitement turns into fear; what if I fail in being able to represent my faith to its best authentic self?

However, I look to my fear for guidance. For it is this fear that will drive me deeper into my research as I prepare for rehearsals. And although the question of being able to represent my faith authentically in the room looms, I know that I will be cared for and supported through the Hope and Hell Theatre team. In just the preliminary email exchanges alone, I have found such comfort and support from Robert Ross Parker (director) and Raoul Bhaneja (producer and actor). They are interested in my experience and expect me to bring nothing more than that to the process. I will be approaching this mentorship from an actor’s perspective but what I find most exciting about this mentorship in directing is the opportunity to see what life is like on the other side of the table, and how the two disciplines – as different as they are – can overlap. I have always been fascinated by this overlap. What I am most eager to witness is the transition from conception to production. I believe this experience will illuminate the many different efforts necessary in creating a production. Additionally, I will be able to observe how to create the best conditions for all the many different efforts necessary in creating a production. Robert has such a vast experience in directing, from solo shows to large scale productions, to workshopping new work. He is a well of knowledge that will inform my exploration into the craft of directing greatly.

The added benefit of this mentorship will be the opportunity to learn from Raoul Bhaneja, producer and actor of Disgraced. I have already learned so much from his generosity and patience, and look forward to learning from his experience of producing this show with his own company. In today’s Canadian ecology, I find it necessary for artist to learn the ins and outs of producing and I look to Raoul for inspiration.

Michela Sisti of Kleinburg is training in directing with Ross Manson at Volcano Theatre in Toronto

(December 21, 2015) Halfway through my mentorship in directing with Ross Manson and Volcano Theatre I am feeling very happy and alive.

Century Song’s Final Development Week has finally happened. The company reinterpreted a movement from Olivier Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time and began the job of working it into the existing content of the show.

Messiaen’s quartet was originally written for piano, violin, cello and clarinet. The challenge was to reinterpret the piece for piano, soprano voice and whatever else the combined musical genius of pianist Gregory Oh, percussionist Debashis Sinha and soprano Neema Bickersteth could come up with.

(Did you know that you can create soul-piercing sounds by drawing bicycle inner tubes along the strings of a grand piano?!)

Also present was choreographer, Kate Alton, who, along with Ross, carefully watched the musical development with an eye for staging.

It has been terrific having an entire week’s time to work on some very fine details. Together, the company took time thinking, sharing, discussing, trying things out. Absent from the process was the pressure to ‘get it right’. We made and found our way as we went along.

There were always several balls in the air: the music, the staging, the costume changes, the projections, the timing – all gauges that were meticulously fiddled with. One tiny decision would always come with a cascade of consequences that would cause everything else to shift. We never ran out of experiments to try because we were constantly readjusting our work to the new landscapes we were creating.

I want to live my whole life this way.

“Vocalise for the Angel who announces the end of Time” begins with a ribbon of notes from the clarinet that sounds like a nightingale’s call (I like to picture a big garish songbird out of a Hieronymus Bosch painting), or some distant enigmatic flutter of fanfare. In Volcano’s version, Neema sings this line on a stream of changing vowels. The sound erupts out of her like a howl, or like a volatile substance that is transforming her from the inside out.

(Kate gave Neema a really delightful image to work with: You vomit up something deep inside of you. And now it’s all over you, all over the stage, it’s rising quickly, you’re trying not to drown in it.)

This eruption works as an actual transformation in the spine of the show. It brings Neema’s character, and all of us, out of the warm interiors of Jazz Age Montreal and into the stark open air of an imminent World War.

During the first four days of work Neema always began the ‘howl’ against the darkening backdrop of a quiet forest. As the Messiaen continues, the forest dissolves into a series of black and white etchings by the expressionist artist, Kathe Kollwitz. Then, on the fifth day of the Development Week, something very strange happened. In the wonderfully detached way Ross and his company tend to share their ideas, Kate offered up this suggestion: This might be a really bad idea, but what if we began the howl back in the Montreal room?

It was like Einstein grabbing a hold of Newton’s model of the universe, shifting everything around and then throwing it back in your face with a card saying, “Mass and energy are now interchangeable… so are space and time. Enjoy your day.”

An explosion had taken place beneath the landscape we had been fastidiously shaping over the past few days. Kate’s question had provoked us to reconsider the story that we were telling.

In our original version, Neema’s character sings a sensuous, romantic, pre-war Messiaen vocalise from an elegant art-deco room in Montreal. Through a window, snow is falling through trees. Neema is wearing a golden dress and she is gorgeous. We get the sense she is performing for an adoring audience. Although, except for Neema, the room is empty, and there is something cold about it. (Is this place somewhere she that wants to be?) Slowly, the view through the window begins to swell. It overwhelms the room. Now Neema is standing in a forest, singing. The vocalise draws to an end. Then comes the howl.

Now imagine, instead, the romantic vocalise beginning, peaking, and ending in a cold, static room. Imagine a silence. Then imagine this singer rupturing with a howl and forest overtaking the walls, ceiling, floor.

What is each version saying about this woman? About freedom? About war?

Or, should we relax a bit with the questions? Ross reminded us that Century Song is not the kind of show in which meaning is created through one-to-one correspondences. To try it force these scenes to fit a narrative in our heads could be deadly.

Still, there was something so tantalizing about the alternative reality Kate had offered up. Do we go for it and test out the idea on day five of our development week? Do we carve days out of our January rehearsal period to keep on working?

In the end reality spoke.

We have limited time. What we have is good. Let keep it as it is.

The ability to let go! It’s something I’ve struggled with in my past work, and it was liberating to be witness a team of intrepid explorers firmly say, “Nope, we’re not going to go there today!”

Our next round of work starts up in early January. There will be a first week of rehearsals focused on music and dance reclamation, and then our second week will be all about putting the show back together as a whole.

In the meantime, I’ve been set the task of creating a gallery display for the Century Song’s opening at the Progress Festival. I’m super-excited! We’re putting on a SHOW!

The next application deadline for the Professional Theatre Training Program is March 1, 2016.

This week on #CdnCult Times from SpiderWebShow: “Critics are ambassadors (like it or not) bringing theatre to the general public. What is their role in the changing media landscape?” Three perspectives from Jerry Wasserman, Eric Coates, and Michael Wheeler

Friday, 8 January 2016

Conversation Starters

I’m excited to see Playwrights Guild of Canada launching “The Play Map of Canada.” With the goal of improving the number of Canadian plays in Canadian communities (with a focused eye on the upcoming sesquicentennial in 2017), I was impressed by HowlRound’s New Play Map, and wondered out loud if something similar could inspire our communities to share the breadth of success stories in producing our works. And PGC ran with it. Join us for the launch on Monday, January 11, with a Twitter Chat from 12pm to 2pm EST.

Thursday, 7 January 2016

Do you need financial support for professional development or a "change of direction" in your career? We are now inviting applications for the March 1, 2016 deadline for our Professional Theatre Training Program (PTTP).

PTTP offers financial support for unique and flexible training with a chosen mentor in any theatrical discipline (except performance.) You can apply for professional development in your own discipline, or a "change of direction" in a career.

During the previous application round, we introduced a few key enhancements to the program guidelines:

Theatre Ontario follows the Ontario Arts Council’s definition of a professional artist, as someone who “has developed skills through training or practice, is recognized by artists working in the same artistic tradition, has a history of public presentation or publication, seeks payment for her or his work, and actively practices his or her art.” This means that applicants no longer need to wait two years after graduating from a post-secondary or other training institution before applying for a PTTP grant, but should refer to this definition when gauging eligibility.

Training programs must be completed within twelve months of the grant being awarded.

Please contact Rebecca Ballarin, Professional Theatre and Education Manager with any questions, especially if you are a first time applicant.

About Theatre Ontario's Blog

Follow by Email

Subscribe to our Blog

About Theatre Ontario

Serving Ontario's Theatre community since 1971, Theatre Ontario develops and supports theatre practitioners across the province, by providing resources, networking, training and advocacy. To access our services, become a member, or donate to support our work, visit the Theatre Ontario website